EP 1309067 discloses a permanent magnet retaining arrangement that is suitable for high speed motors. The arrangement includes a rotor where a spaced array of pole pieces made of a laminated magnetic material are mechanically secured to the rim of the rotor by key members held by screws. A magnet is held in position between each pair of pole pieces by a slot wedge that is made of a non-magnetic material. The slot wedge includes grooves in its opposite edges for receiving projections formed on the adjacent pole pieces. An inverted U-shaped retainer is located in the space between the magnet and its associated slot wedge to enclose the magnet during high speed rotation of the rotor. The retainer is made of a non-magnetic material and has inner surfaces that conform to the rectangular periphery of the magnet, a radially outer surface that engages with the radially inner surface of the slot wedge and circumferential outer surfaces that conform to corresponding surfaces on the adjacent pole pieces. A circumferential outer wrap of fiber-reinforced polymer material surrounds the entire peripheral surface of the rotor structure.
This method of fixing is only really appropriate for rotors with pole pieces and magnets arranged so that the flux in the magnets passes predominantly in the circumferential direction. A disadvantage of this method is the need for high accuracy in the manufacture of the U-shaped retainers.